Senior Jamal Olasewere scored a team-high 20 points and made a pair of critical plays down the stretch to help the LIU Brooklyn men’s basketball team to a hard-fought 83-75 victory over St. Francis Brooklyn at Barclays Center on Sunday.

Trailing by one with 1:23 left in the second half, Olasewere took a feed from junior Jason Brickman and converted on a spin move in the paint to give the Blackbirds (13-11, 8-4 Northeast Conference) a lead they would not relinquish.

Brickman also had a standout performance, scoring 14 points and dishing out nine assists, including seven in the first half.

Following a flagrant foul on the Terriers (9-14, 5-7) and two free throws from freshman E.J. Reed with 56 seconds remaining, Olasewere went to work again and connected on a bank shot in the lane to up LIU’s lead to 80-75 with 28 seconds to go.

St. Francis missed three-point attempts on the next two trips while the Blackbirds hit three of four free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

LIU Brooklyn controlled much of the first half and entered halftime with a 44-33 lead. Senior C.J. Garner was the primary scorer in the period for the Blackbirds, registering 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting.

A 10-1 run toward the end of the half, capped by a three-point play from senior Kenny Onyechi, put the margin at 14 - the largest of the game.

The pesky Terriers would not go quietly, however, and came out with a defensive mindset in the second half. After committing just four turnovers in the first half, LIU turned the ball over 10 times in the second half, with a number of those leading to fast-break opportunities.

Akeem Johnson, a Brooklyn native, finished with a game-high 22 points for St. Francis, while Santavenere closed with 16 points on a perfect 6-for-6 from the floor.